


Butterfly Effect

by dontmindme_imafangirl



Series: Who said flowers can't bloom in space? [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, M/M, Pidge | Katie Holt Being a Little Shit, Pining Keith (Voltron), Sad Shiro (Voltron), Team Voltron Family, Tumblr Prompt, also some brUTAL truths from Allura, but mainly focused on the whole of the Voltron gang?, but we all still love her tho, hunk being the godsend he is, klance, lance gets the love and attention he deserves, shiro angst, voltron fam being themselves pretty much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 08:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10849818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontmindme_imafangirl/pseuds/dontmindme_imafangirl
Summary: ((Tumblr prompt: The paladins + Allura + Coran are all under the effect of a truth serum that stops any sound from coming out if you try to say something you believe is a lie. Lance can hardly talk because of it [by the awesome maristine~]))It starts with something small. One thing leading to another, then to another, and another, until a whole course of events occurs.For the Voltron team it starts when Allura decided to do a general maintenance of the castle.





	Butterfly Effect

*****

Keith got on Lance’s nerves.

That wasn’t uncommon.

Them coming out of their lions after a hard day’s work, teasing grins and sly remarks rolling off of Lance, only to be met with glares and equally snarky comebacks from the Red Paladin, oftentimes evolving into shouting matches that had more bite to them then either boy would care to admit were often, usually ending with Shiro’s hand on each of their shoulders and a stern glare.

Today was no exception. They had all just gotten off of an infiltration mission, sneaking into some of the Garla Headquarters in search of information, both to help them in their fight against the injustice Garla had been spreading, but also to seek information on Pidge’s family’s whereabouts.

Lance took off his helmet the moment he stepped out of Blue, giving her a thankful pat onto the thick blue metal before stepping off, coming nearly face to face with Keith on his way back into the Castle from the hangar.

It didn’t take long for them to fall into their usual teasing rhythm, starting off with small remarks that got bigger and bigger by the minute, earning groans and slight warnings from the rest of the team.

Lance had all but lost it after one snide comment too many coming from Keith, the shorter boy never losing his composure, before Lance turned to him with a click of his tongue, the hand holding his helmet tightening into it’s grip.

“Oh yeah? Well I _hate_ your ass and that stupid mullet!” is what Lance wanted to yell, scream his anger towards Keith, baring his teeth and furrowing his eyebrows in the process.  
Only, the words never managed to leave his throat, his mouth opening and closing to reveal no sound coming through.

Keith stared at him with a raised eyebrow, most likely wondering what the Blue paladin was up to this time.

Lance groaned and started again, trying to speak even louder, yet the words once again got lost, the only thing heard from him being an exasperated gasp.

Even the rest of the team got concerned at that, turning to the two arguing boys with worried looks.

“Lance?” Hunk inquired, a worry in his voice as he stepped closer to his best friend.  
He put a reluctant hand to Lance’s shoulder, the lanky boy refusing to turn and look at him, glare still fixated onto Keith.

“Hey buddy, did you catch a space cold? Does your throat hurt or something?” Hunk continued.

“N-no”, Lance turned to face him, he himself shocked at the sudden ease that he could speak with. “I just, I tried speaking and physically _couldn’t_. Kinda like something was stopping me.”

Lance turned back to glare at Keith about to yell another absurd accusation of witchcraft or something of the sorts- _why else would he only be unable to insult Keith of all people?!_ , but Coran’s shriek stopped him cold in his tracks.

The older man all but run into the paladins, coming head first with Shiro’s chest armour. 

“Paladins! Don’t take off your helmets! Do-Oh.” he exasperated, noticing they had all taken their helmets off, looking towards him with confused looks.

“I-ahem. I should explain then, shouldn’t I?” he asked, and frantically continued when he noticed the confused stares turning into irritation.

“Ah well see, Allura and I were running a few maintenance rounds around the ship, wanting to make sure everything works and the like and-heh” he shrugged, bringing a hand to wipe the gathering sweat on his forehead “this _is_ an old ship you see, and some minor mishaps are bound to happen as you are already aware-“

“Coran. To the point, if you could?” Shiro interrupted, voice both worried and stern.

“Ah well, we were just cleaning up the lab room, there’s so much clatter from experiments left unfinished in there and-well, we didn’t really pay much mind to the mice running around until we heard a crash and-they broke the _Verum Phialae_.”

“The…what?”  
It was Lance that broke the short silence, each of them trying to take in what Coran was saying.

“The Verum Phialae-Just Verum for short, it was the latest Altean technology back in the day! Used for a more peaceful way of interrogation rather than the brutal methods other civilisations used. Just a drop of it and your lies would be caught dead in your throat! You could only speak if you said the truth.”

“You guys created a fully-working _truth serum_?!” Hunk squealed, bringing his head closer to Coran with an excited flutter of his eyelashes- _leave it to Hunk to get excited over weird space alien caricatures_ Lance thought with a fond shake of his head.

“Alright, what does _that_ have to do with our helmets?” Pidge asked, nudging herself forth to meet Coran, the paladins forming a semi circle around the man.

“Ah yes, well, see the Verum is an immediately evaporating substance. This was the sole side effect of the substance, since the moment it made contact with air it’d become a gas.”

“And you say the mice dropped a whole vial of it.”  
One look at Pidge and they could all see the cogs spinning beneath her glasses.

“Not just a vial-it was a whole darn glass flask of it! Enough to knock a whole pack of _exogians_ out, and those weigh twice of Shiro’s weight each!” he gasped.

Shiro took no mind to the comment and continued, reaching to the same conclusion Pidge must’ve been getting at.

“So you and Allura were affected by this serum. And I’m assuming the gas made is way through the Castle’s vents?”

Coran nodded.  
“So we’re currently all affected by this Truth…Vial?”

Coran nodded again.

“Is it…dangerous?” Shiro continued, now worried for the well-being of his team.

“Oh goodness gracious, of course not! It does however highly affect your verbal communication, and with such a hefty dose released, it’s most likely going to affect us all for more than a few tocks.”

Shiro hummed at that, shrugging his shoulders with a soft sigh.

“Well, we can’t lie. There’s worse things we could’ve dealt with than a few hours of truth.” he shrugged, giving Coran a curt nod before heading through the door behind him and back into the Castle’s hallways.

They all eventually dispersed back into the Castle, Coran’s relief evident in the slump of his tense shoulders before he walked along, congratulating the team on another job well done.

Only Keith stayed a few feet behind, matching his pace to Lance’s.

Lance ignored him for a few, before the shit-eating-grin on his teammate’s face ticked him off.

“ _What?_ ” he snided, not trusting himself to say much more now that he knew there was a Truth Serum-gas-whatever affecting them all.

“Nothing, nothing” Keith feigned innocence, looking up at Lance with a falsely sweet look, “I was just wondering what you were about to say before?”

Lance crinkled his nose in fury, turning to yell one more ‘I hate you and your dumb mullet’ Keith’s way, Verum-whatever be damned.

Through pained creaks, he managed to say a rather loud remark, one he’d never expected to utter.

“I-I…don’t….I don’t hate your mullet.”

He gasped, eyes equally wide as Keith’s, before he put a hand over his mouth and all but ran through the hall, leaving a shocked Keith behind, along with the rest of the team.

“Oh. Oh dear.” Coran muttered, a hand coming to twirl his moustache. “I wasn’t quite expecting _that_.”

“Expecting _what_?!” Keith croaked, evidently still shook from the transpired event.

“Well, at high dosages, mixed with an elevated emotional state, the Truth Vial can, potentially, cause someone to say the _truth_ instead of the lie they’d wanted to say. First time I’ve seen it happen up close and personal however!” he gleamed.

The team muttered to themselves before carrying on through the hall, Keith meeting up with them after another moment of stillness and shock.

No one took notice of Pidge, the smaller paladin’s glasses gleaming with mischief.

****

By the time they'd all gathered to the control room, Allura had already finished the maintenance procedure, a giddy excitement in her steps.

“Paladins! Congratulations on a mission well done. I am very proud of you.” she beamed, clasping her hands in front of her chest.

“As you are all aware by now, Coran and I had an accident in the lab room concerning the Verum Phialae. I assure you it’s not going to cause any of you any physical harm, other than the inability to lie for a prolonged period of time.” she grinned, a certain mischief in the gleam of her eyes.

“Uh, princess? No offence, but you don’t really _look_ upset about it like, at all” Lance shrugged, picking his words carefully and slowly after his previous mishap.

He was at least thankful that no one brought it back up, and prayed to any deity he could name that the truth serum-gas could potentially offer partial memory loss as a side effect.

She laughed, not trying to hide her obvious excitement over the course of events.

“I had always wanted to see the effects of this serum up close. There was never much reason to use it back in Altea, seeing how peaceful of a planet we were. I’m merely curious how this…adventure, will end up.” she sufficed, “And besides. This _is_ a perfect chance to bond better as a team. I suggest we take full advantage of it!”

“You speak my language princess.”

Pidge, the most quiet of them all so far, tucked her glasses back in place with her index finger, a wide grin spreading on her lips.

“In fact,” Pidge continued, “I suggest we play some good old earthly games, to help with our… _bonding_ ” she sneered, making Hunk and Lance swallow nervously while looking at their friend-if their days in the Garrison taught them one thing, it was to not ever, _ever, ever_ trust Pidge’s judgement when that grin took place on her face.

“Oh, that sounds wonderful!” Allura cheered, Coran following suit by her side. “What do you have in mind?”

“I’m glad you asked”, Pidge laughed, and Hunk and Lance could’ve sworn their souls had ascended from their bodies right then and there.

This was _not_ going to end well.

******

“But _Coran_ ”, she nagged, “Can’t we play this earth game first and have dinner later?”

“No can do princess,”, he replied, picking scoops of goo onto his spoon, “You all need to rest and nourish yourselves first! The Paladins did just come back from a gruelling mission, and you exerted quite a bit of energy to open and close up wormholes for them!”

She sighed, picking at her food goo in distaste. 

“Don’t worry princess. We’ll all gather ‘round and play right after.” Pidge grinned around a spoonful of goo, her whole aura screaming of mischief.

Lance nudged Hunk, bringing a hand to cover his whispering into his best friend’s ear.

“On a scale of 1 to a billion, how terrified should we be that not only did Pidge convince Allura to play along, but she’s also not _telling_ us what this game is?”

Hunk chewed, humming thoughtfully before turning to Lance with a grim face.

“I would say about a trillion, for sure. See that grin?” he nodded towards Pidge, not missing the batting of her eyelashes once she noticed them. “That’s the same grin that landed me into Iverson’s office for a whole two hours punishment for messing with Garrison tech.”

“No kidding” Lance laughed, leaning back on his chair, “ _That’s_ the grin that landed _me_ in the Garrison pool at four am half-drunk and freezing!”

They laughed under their breaths, feeling the anxiety slowly ease off. So far there was little indication that the truth serum had affected any of them-there was no particular reason for anyone to lie, and Lance even found ways to crack jokes about their situation, putting his best puns to use.

Keith on the other hand remained silent, quietly observing the situation.  
Everyone was more or less back to normal, if you didn’t take much mind to Pidge’s evil plan and Allura’s giddiness.

Yet Shiro seemed awfully distracted, the older man seemingly more quiet than usual. The haunted look on his face made worry gnaw at Keith’s mind.

He softly turned to Shiro, his friend not even looking up to meet his eye, evidently distracted.

“Shiro.”

He hummed a noncommittal sound in response.

“Hey, Shiro?”

Shiro kept poking his goo, with no clear sign of having any intention of eating it, nor of hearing anything Keith said.

Keith brought a hand in front of Shiro’s face and shook it, knowing not to scare him by touching his shoulder when he was this distracted.

“Oh!” He took notice of the hand, now turning to Keith with wide eyes.

“Keith. Sorry, I was distracted.”

Keith snorted a laugh, easing up now that he had his friends’ attention.

“I could tell. What’s wrong?”

Shiro shook his head, opening his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

Keith stared in distaste.

“Ah, sorry. I’m-“

His voice squeaked, unable to finish his sentence.

Keith squinted, the rest of the team now catching on to the situation and turning their attention to Shiro from across the table.

“Shiro. Tell us what’s wrong.” Keith continued, hoping to convey his worry through the stern gaze he was giving him.

A look around the table offered no solace-everyone’s eyes were fixated onto him, with varying levels of worry.

Shiro sighed, bringing a hand to rub the bridge of his nose.

“I’m sorry. I wanted to say I’m fine, but I don’t really feel fine. At all.”

The team stared on, now fully concerned.

He clenched and unclenched his fists, bringing them down to his lap to fiddle with.

“It’s hard to get used to our situation, though I think that feeling’s mutual for all of us. I just feel more torn today because of our mission.” he turned his gaze back to his friends, taking note of their sympathy and small nods, “It’s fine when we’re in our lions, but close combat always brings back flashbacks of what I had to face whilst being a Garla prisoner and…it’s hard.” he finished.

They all knew that Shiro was making himself vulnerable in that moment, easing out of his persona of the cool collected leader to bare his feelings to them. 

“Shiro, it’s alright for you to not feel okay. No one is expecting you to be comfortable and at peace with the hardships you have been through.” Allura leaned closer to him from across the table, words soft yet firm.

“Yeah”, Lance continued, “No one’s expecting you to pretend to be okay. If you don’t feel well, just tell us!” he huffed, Hunk nodding along with an equally stern expression.

“You’re our friend. We all want you to share your feelings with us. So don’t just, bottle things up, okay?” Keith concluded, sighing with relief when Shiro nodded, a shy smile to his lips.

“Thank you guys.” he sighed, his ears reddening with an oncoming blush, “This-ah-this means a lot. Really.”

They all took a moment to let Shiro recompose himself, before Pidge spoke up, moving to get out of her seat with a loud push of her chair.

“Alright, speaking of vulnerability and bottled up emotions”, she smiled, “Who’s ready to play _Truth or Dare_?”

*****  
“Pidge, buddy, my dudette, I think this is less ‘Truth or Dare’ and more ‘Let’s all suffer because Pidge wants us to”

“Oh please, as if regular Truth or Dare is any better”, she chided, swatting his hand away from her as he poked her cheek with an unimpressed expression.

“Is it? I thought Truth or Dare is more like, either telling people who your crush is or making out with the person sitting across from you.”

Coran grimaced at that, looking towards Allura to see her sporting the same expression.

“Yeah, exactly, and that’s not our purpose here. Anyway, that’s what happens at drunken high school parties. _We_ are stepping it up a notch, and taking full advantage of this truth serum in the meantime.” Pidge said, taking joy in seeing Lance’s expression falter.

“More like you taking full advantage on all of the blackmail material you have on us and making us admit it to each other.” Lance complained, folding his arms over his chest and huffing.

“Details, details” Pidge grinned, turning her attention to Allura and Coran isntead.

“So, princess, Coran, did you understand how to play this game?”

Allura hummed, leaning forward and tapping a finger onto her chin.

“So, we sit in a circle. We go around the circle, and each person picks another person to ask ‘Truth or Dare’ to. Yes?”

Pidge nodded before Coran cut in, the man only just leaning down to take a seat into the circle.

“And that person can choose to ask any dare or truth to their liking, yes?”

Pidge hummed again in response, glad to see the two Alteans enjoying the game already.

All of the paladins decided it’d be best to play an easier version of the game, for the sake of both the Alteans and for an easier flow of the game, deciding to discard the bottle and the ‘ask the person sitting across of you’ rules.

“Alright. Everyone in position?” 

She took a look around, humming with content.

Their little circle started with her, sitting between Allura and Coran, Hunk sitting by Coran whilst Lance sat besides Hunk, Shiro sitting beside Allura with Keith sitting next to him, evidently leading to Lance sitting by Keith.

Pidge turned to Lance and grinned, already knowing who her first target would be.

A new fire burned into Lance’s eyes at the sight of that grin.  
No, no he would _not_ let Pidge embarrass him. He would take the dares like a champ, and evade the truth questions to the best of his capabilities.

And when it was his turn to ask questions…he’d enjoy it as much as possible.

*****  
Going by age, they decided to let the youngest, Pidge, ask questions first.

“Lance.” she pinpointed immediately, looking across the circle towards him.

Hearing his name come from the shorter paladin made him groan, already disliking where this was going.

 

Pidge shushed him, flashing him with a toothy grin.

“Lance. Truth or Dare?”

Lance snorted, rolling his eyes.  
“Dare. Duh.”

“Predictable.” she sneered.

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘hot and reckless’?” he grinned back, turning to throw a wink to Allura who shook her head.

“Alright, alright, dare it is.”  
She hummed, pretending to think about what to do.  
Poor Lance had no idea he was perfectly following along to her grand evil plan.

“Lance, I _dare you_ to get up, and sing the chorus of the first song that comes to mind.”

He eyed her with disbelief, even going as far as to raise an eyebrow.

“Really? That’s _child’s play_ Pidge.”

She leaned back with her hand for support, giving him a half-sided smirk.

“I said the _first_ song that comes to mind. Seeing how there’s a truth serum in effect, unless you sing that, you won’t be able to sing anything.”

His eyes widened at that, now catching everyone’s attention.

“Fine! Fine!” he yelled and stood up.

He tried to sing, but no sound came through.

Pidge laughed.

“Having some trouble there? You do know you’ll lose if you don’t sing right?”

“No! I’m-I’m fine. I’ll sing now.” 

He looked down at that, a pout forming on his lips.  
“No one laugh okay?”  
They all looked on in anticipation.

What they were _not_ expecting, was the entirety of the chorus of ‘Let it Go’, sang in perfect pitch and accurate lyrics, Lance even going as far as to twirl around in his spot for a dramatic effect.

He couldn’t blame them for laughing at that, really. 

He sat back down with a furious blush.  
What he didn’t know was that Pidge had been softly humming the song’s tune all through their dinner, certain Lance would catch onto it and hum along.

 _I was right_ , he thought, _this will be a long, long night._

****  
They carried on like that, Shiro usually opting for truth, feeling better now that he had shared his worries with the team, even letting them in on his first childhood crush- _”Justin Timberlake”, he admitted in a low voice, “back in his NSYNC days”, and no one found it in them to comment on it, not when none of the humans on their team could possibly ever say they hadn’t also had a crush on the guy._  
Overall it was fun, and Allura and Coran seemed to enjoy the game more and more, Allura wasting no time in asking the most obscure, bizarre questions she could.

She didn’t even hesitate when Lance asked her who her favourite paladin is, winking at her in a flirtatious manner, only for her to flatly and calmly say ‘Hunk’, earning a confused blush from the boy.

“What”, she asked when everyone stared, “He’s nice, soft, and brings me cookies when I’m tired. Who wouldn’t love him?”  
They all agreed to that, Lance being the first to admit that Hunk was indeed completely and truly lovable, turning the boy in question into a flustered bubbly mess.

Eventually Lance started butting heads with Keith, both boys assigning more and more obscure dares to one another, until one round found them both wearing their clothes upside down, one of the mice balancing on Lance’s head whilst Keith’s hair was braided in two braids and Hunk’s bandana served as a make-shift eyepatch.

Pidge eventually had enough of the two, turning to Lance once again when her turn was up, and asking him another ‘truth or dare’

“Dare” was his obvious reply, despite his heaving breaths and disshelved state.

“Fine, then I _dare you_ to say the truth, and only the truth, to what I ask you next!”

He tried arguing with her, saying that that was against the rules, until she every politely reminded him they had set no such rule before the game started, and therefore it really wasn’t against any rules.

He eventually groaned but agreed, dreading what she’d ask next.

“Alright then. Lance,” she started, the devilish gleam returning to her eyes, “Is it true that you stare at yourself in the mirror every night before you go to bed?”

He heart Keith snort besides him, turning to fix the boy with an angry stare.

“Don’t forget-we need the full truth, otherwise you lose.” she reminded him.

Lance sighed, turning to answer the question, yet his voice refused to cooperate. He fiddled with the hem of his jacket before he looked up and tried again, finding his voice just as gone as before.

Hunk fixed him with a sympathetic look, sharing an entire conversation with his friend by just looks alone.

 _Maybe you should just tell the truth_ Hunk conveyed, and Lance huffed, trying to speak again but to no avail.

_We’re all your friends Lance. Say the truth._

Lance fixed him with defeated sigh and stare that said _Fine. Fine, I will_ , before turning to face Pidge again, the hand fiddling with his jacket now paling from the sheer strength he was holding onto the fabric with.

“I don’t stare at a mirror every night.”

“Yeah right” Pidge laughed, hearing small chuckles coming from everyone else.

“I _don’t_ alright?!” 

His voice got louder, his back arching straight with a profound emotion.

“I don’t. In fact, I try to avoid mirrors as much as I can, because every time I look into one all I see staring back at me is a _failure_ , an ugly lanky excuse of a person that can’t do anything fucking _right_ and-“  
He caught himself in the middle of his outbreak, finding all of his team staring back at him with big shocked eyes, and suddenly Lance’s anger was gone, replaced by a shiver coursing through all of his body, eyes burning and tears pooling into the corners of his eyes. Suddenly Lance had never felt smaller, bringing his head to his knees and curling in on himself, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze, see anyone’s _pity_.

A hand found its way onto his shoulder, and he only managed to look back for a moment, seeing Keith lean in closer to him.

“Lance,” he mumbled, his grip gently tightening, “Truth or Dare?”

He shifted at that, ready to yell _What the fuck Keith?!_ to the boy, only to be met face to face with the most concerned expression he’d ever seen Keith wear, and realised what Keith was hinting at.

With a shaky intake of air, he closed his eyes.

“Truth.”

“Then, Lance. What…what do you think of yourself?”

Lance wanted to hide into his own skin, dig a hole onto the ground underneath him and disappear.

He tried to say he didn’t think all that much of himself, that he was just a regular boy with the same amount of pride and insecurities as any other person, but even that got hitched in his throat-due to the truth serum or the quiet sobs, he wasn’t sure.

He collected himself a moment after, bringing a sleeve to wipe the tears from his eyes.

“I know I act all high and mighty, and pretend to think that I’m the best or whatever, but I just..” he shrugged, feeling another hand-Hunks’ he realised, snake it way around his shoulders, “I’m just not. I always feel like I’m not good enough, like I’ll never amount to anything much. Like I’m only dragging this team down.”

He shook his head, a self-pitying smile on his lips.  
“I’m not even really good at anything. Each person on this team has their..their _thing_ and I’m just here. Maybe I don’t have a spot here. Never felt like I belonged all that much in the Garrison either, nor in any group back in high-school. I just drifted along because if I stayed too close to someone for too long, they’d just figure out how weak I am and I-I don’t want others to pity me or think I’m helpless, even if that’s what I feel most of the time.”

He sighed, refusing to look away from his feet.  
“I guess I just act like I’m the best because I feel like I’m the worst.”

The hands around his shoulders tightened, met with an equally bruising force finding its way across his waist-Pidge had latched onto him, burying her head onto his shirt and mumbling soft apologies for making him say all that, followed by soft thank-you’s for being honest with them.

Allura leaned close, bringing a hand to tousle his hair and tell him that of _course_ he’s a part of this team, the Blue Lion had chosen him and only him specifically to become her Paladin, that he has much more value then he deems himself to have.  
Shiro agreed, priding him for his calm strategic mind and shooting skills, making his heart drum when he said ‘You’re our sharpshooter Lance, and a dear friend. You’re part of this team.’  
Coran waited until the people around him dispersed, catching him into a tight hug and telling him to have more confidence in himself, that he’s a child of the universe and should never bring down his marvellous creation like that, before teasingly flicking his forehead and loudly whispering “Besides, Hunk may be Allura’s favourite Paladin, but you’re _my_ favourite”, promptly followed by a sneaky look around, glad to find the rest of the team pretending to not have heard that.

 

Lance laughed at that, laughed enough to start crying again, letting Hunk nudge his side and ask him if he felt better now, for Lance to nod, tears still in his eyes, only with a smile far more real than ever before gracing his lips.

“Well” he sighed after finally composing himself enough to talk, “I’ve bared my biggest, deepest insecurities to you guys, so I think it’s fair to get something back.”

“It’s only fair” Hunk agreed, “Although there’s pretty much nothing I could share that’d be news for you guys.” he shrugged.

“I-“ Pidge started, still nestled close to Lance, “I do have something actually.”

They all focused onto her, Pidge sighing before settling for a grave expression.

“It’s true. My glasses _are_ just for the cryptic aesthetic.”

“A-ha! I knew it!” Hunk screamed, pointing to her as if he’d just heard the biggest revelation of all times.

They abandoned their game of truth or dare, going around instead and sharing little things, from deep insecurities to the most obscure of information. 

Hunk usually slept in Lance’s bed when they were kids, but stopped when one night Lance sleep-talked and said ‘It’s alright. The monsters don’t care much for human flesh anyway.’ 

Allura did indeed set the mice to follow the paladins around from time to time to come back to her with new gossip and blackmail material (a term she’d picked up from Pidge and very much liked, she said).

Coran was, in fact, not born with a moustache. It was however true, that he started growing one in hopes of having a moustache and beard as lavish as King Alfor’s.

Shiro had a stuffed bunny back home called Puga. He’d had it since he was three and refused to not pack it with him for college.

Pidge was afraid of spiders. Lance loved horror movies so much he purposely tried scaring himself sometimes. Hunk once tried smoking a cigarette but the smoke went all out through his nose and he coughed so hard he thought he died. 

Even Keith reluctantly shared some information, he admitted that he was indeed aware that his hair was a mullet, that his jacket was tacky and not efficient as-well, as a jacket, even went as far as to admit how he actually did have a board dedicated to finding traces of the Mothman back in his shack.

There was one more thing, one little truth eating away at him, begging to come to the surface.  
He didn’t know if it was a truth that should ever see the light of day or not.

One stern look from Shiro though (the ‘stern brotherly look’, as Keith called it), told him otherwise.

_It’s your chance. Go for it._

He shut his eyes and breathed in, looking back to the laughing group of friends.  
“I actually don’t hate you, Lance.”

That caught the boy mid-laugh, a hand in front of his mouth to cover the loud cheers that caught lodged in his throat, back leaning onto Hunk’s side.

He turned to Keith, smile nervous and eyes wide.

“I don’t hate you. I-if-if anything”, he felt the truth serum push the truth stuck in his chest for so long, urging it to come to the surface, “if anything, I actually like you. As in, I have a crush on you.”

There was complete silence for a moment, not even a pinprick of a breath to be heard.

“If we’re being honest right now…I don’t hate you either. At all. Even if I try and act like it.”  
Lance’s voice was shaky, his whole face flush and lips trembling.  
“If anything, I-I like you too.”

The room erupted with cheers and whistles as Keith stood and tugged Lance towards him, catching the wobbly boy with a tight embrace and a sheepish grin.

He inwardly blessed the mice and their clumsiness, the old Altean scientists for their discovery of the truth serum-turned gas, for Allura’s decision on a Castle maintenance run. 

He thanked the butterfly effect and his lucky stars for the sincere laugh vibrating onto his neck, cool hands gripping the fabric of his shirt and digging onto his back with a trembling excitement.

Keith thanked the universe for giving him friends like this; people he could lean onto and seek support, as much as they could seek shelter in him, people that would always be there for each other, through thick and thin.

He thanked the universe for giving him what he’d always wanted.

A family to call his own.

*****

**Author's Note:**

> I have the deepest fascination with Butterfly Effect stories tbh lol, and pretty much dug around on Reddit for such stories so it felt befitting to work with something like that, though idk how obvious it is in the story or not :p
> 
> Anyway, thank you for the awesome prompt! I had a lot of fun with this and sorry for taking so long to get to it, real life has been pretty tiresome lately TuT
> 
> If you'd like to send in a prompt/just talk/idk, calculate the moon's trajectory or talk about butterfly effect stories and stuff, my tumblr is dontmindme-imafangirl.tumblr.com
> 
> Hope you like it! Kudos & Comments are always very much appreciated :)
> 
> P.S.: Little notes i forgot to add (lol)
> 
> -Verum Phialae: Literally just means 'truth vial' in latin lol. Had to put that one mandatory latin class from last year to use somehow ((even though it's probably conjugated wrong woo~))  
> -Exogins: Just a butchered version of the greek word εξωγήινοι because my word-making skills are minimal lol


End file.
